My issue is the HDMI out. Since the options use a 785 mobo, the HDMI is limited to maybe v1.3 or 1.2. On the website, the intel chipset is the H55, which also has an older HDMI output.

How is this an issue with the case? You build your own system, choose your own motherboard. Besides, you must be writing about something else altogether. The mobo in the sample system is an Intel 1155.

I would have loved to see the case an inch taller or so to fit an internal TV card, maybe using a riser card. Yes, I could use a USB TV receiver, but having all the components inside the case makes it so much cleaner. Now it's just a half-arsed solution for a fully-featured HTPC.

The nice thing about the HDPLEX is the drive configurations it supports. But maybe it's not worth putting spinning media in pricey desktops or HTPCs anymore. How loud would two or three 2.5'' drives be in that thing?

How do you think would this case compare to Logic Supply's to cool a more powerful CPU that this review's dual-core, Mike?

Any idea how efficient that PSU is compared to the Pico-PSU? Shame about that large bungle of cables, shame they didn't get shorter and sheathed cable-sets.

The pics on their website show the drive bays underneath the optical drive, but they don't appear to be rubber-mounted, unlike the Coolermaster case. It looks as though there's room and mountings for a third drive, but that might be where the board for the front panel connector and IR goes... any way you can confirm this?

I too would like to see a version with a PCI slot, either half-height or full-height over the motherboard.

Any idea how efficient that PSU is compared to the Pico-PSU? Shame about that large bungle of cables, shame they didn't get shorter and sheathed cable-sets.

The pics on their website show the drive bays underneath the optical drive, but they don't appear to be rubber-mounted, unlike the Coolermaster case. It looks as though there's room and mountings for a third drive, but that might be where the board for the front panel connector and IR goes... any way you can confirm this?

I too would like to see a version with a PCI slot, either half-height or full-height over the motherboard.

The H3 uses the same rubber mountings as the H10 -- those 6-point star shapes visible on the underside of the case are rubber grommets.

As for efficiency, I just added this to the article:

Quote:

Power Efficiency

It is not possible to get a precise assessment of power supply efficiency without pulling it from the case and loading it up our power supply test rig. However, our AC test measurements can give us a pretty good idea. The Asus P8H67-I Deluxe mini-ITX motherboard used in this sample was just tested and reviewed by Lawrence last week. Although the processor used in that review was the high end Intel Core i5-2500K, we know from previous testing that all the standard TDP socket 1155 chips have the same idle power. Another difference is that two 2-GB sticks of SO-DIMM were used in Larry's testing, while the H3.SODD system used just one, but this should not impact idle power at all. It should be well under 1W difference.

The estimated idle state DC power for the tested Asus P8H67-I Deluxe with i5-2500K and 4 GB RAM was 20W. The H3 sample system pulled 25W AC at idle, which suggests ~80% efficiency. This load is very low, and likely below the power level at which maximum efficiency is reached by the power supply. This means efficiency should be higher with any kind of load. You could expect 85% or better efficiency at ~60W.

Any idea how efficient that PSU is compared to the Pico-PSU? Shame about that large bungle of cables, shame they didn't get shorter and sheathed cable-sets.

The pics on their website show the drive bays underneath the optical drive, but they don't appear to be rubber-mounted, unlike the Coolermaster case. It looks as though there's room and mountings for a third drive, but that might be where the board for the front panel connector and IR goes... any way you can confirm this?

I too would like to see a version with a PCI slot, either half-height or full-height over the motherboard.

There is an H5.SODD. It support one expansion card and card is not over the mini-ITX motherboard.

The problem with PCI/PCIE card over the mobo is airflow.

For example, Ceton turner will get quite hot. If it is over the mobo, especially over the motherboard chipset, it will create a very hot zone in a passive chassis.

Looks like an almost perfect case for fanless htpcs. Sadly not my cup of tea because I actually like low rpm fans for their cooling properties, although this almost makes me want to reconsider that. Definitely something I will recommend to anyone who wants a truly fanless and tiny system though.Also it feels like the system is cheaper because you have an included cpu heatsink already.

Very nice, however should I be concerned about motherboard VRM and chipset cooling with this case?

None of the board sensors gave any plausible readings of high temps for these components. No such hotspots were found by either touch or IR temp meter. Perhaps VRM and chipset cooling with a much hotter CPU in a systems that is put under repeated long term stress could become issues, but not with this CPU under any combination of test and real loads tried.

I would have loved to see the case an inch taller or so to fit an internal TV card, maybe using a riser card. Yes, I could use a USB TV receiver, but having all the components inside the case makes it so much cleaner. Now it's just a half-arsed solution for a fully-featured HTPC.

Get an HDHomeRun Tuner, will do more towards a cleaner look than even an internal tuner card.

About the review, what I always wonder with fan-less designs is how well it'd do in a significantly hotter environment .

About the review, what I always wonder with fan-less designs is how well it'd do in a significantly hotter environment .

10C hotter, no problem. >35C ambient could become taxing over the long term w/ heavy CPU loads... but then the user(s) would employ cooling for themselves (aircon, fan) and that could also help the PC.

Or I could just get another case, which would be cheaper and not require modding. I'd only consider this case for someone who actually wants fanless.

I think I could go either way. You can sort of classify this as either(a) a small case or as (b) a large heat sink.... that you can choose to use as passive or as semi-passive (with just a bit of modding).

It's awesome. Is this the 1st time we have a true silent PC meanwhile powerful enough for daily usage?

I really feel surprising on "heard absolutely nothing". If the retailed product can also have the similar level, it would be very great. My personal experience on silence is that after reducing the system noise to a pretty low level, the electric noise can be very annoying since it's totally un-predictable and nothing can be done when it happens.

BTW, why are there two small SSD in the system? OCZ VERTEX 2 60 GB SDDG.SKILL Phoenix Pro FM-25S2S-60GBP2 SSD

Any chance that HDplex will make a smaller version of the H3.S case? I want a SFF case to use as a client for SageTV and for Netflix and other online video. All I would have in the case is the mobo, IR sensor plus a SSD.

The HDplex H3.S seems to have enough space for a full 3.5" hard drive. Why not make a smaller version of this case where you could put the SSD over the mobo - it could be a lot less than 13" deep, especially if they used an external PS - in which sae it could be close to a couple of inches narrower as well. You would need to make the heat tubes a bit shorter or you could attach them to both the left and right side of the case if you didn't have the PS in the way - check out the photo gallery of the H3.S at http://www.hd-plex.com/H3.S.html

The estimated idle state DC power for the tested Asus P8H67-I Deluxe with i5-2500K and 4 GB RAM was 20W. The H3 sample system pulled 25W AC at idle, which suggests ~80% efficiency. This load is very low, and likely below the power level at which maximum efficiency is reached by the power supply. This means efficiency should be higher with any kind of load. You could expect 85% or better efficiency at ~60W.

Yes true, but it's likely that a Pico PSU would be more efficient.

However, it's great they use the fins to cool the PSU, and you do avoid the clutter of an external power adaptor.

For how much benefit? 1W? 2W is probably the max you could expect at idle, which is where it really atters most. Maybe 3W max at load, but as this is much less frequent, it matters less. I have no problem accepting this in exchange for the no-clutter of any external AC/DC adapter.

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